Process of manufacturing coke.



TATEN'TED APR. 21, 1903.

J. PrWILGOX. PROGESS 0P MANUFAGTURING 00KB.

Arrmon'zn rum) mm '1. 1002.

N0 MODEL.

UNIilhl) STATES ATE T FFIQE,

JOHN F. WILCOX, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO RETORT COKE OVEN COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURlNG COKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent H 725,904, dated April 21. 1903. Application filed June 7, 1902. Serial No- 110573; (No specimens.)

To alt whom it may concern.- 7 Be it known that I, J OHN F. W1Loox, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Cleveland,in the county of Cuyahoga and Stateof 5 Ohio, have invented or discovered new'and usefulImprovemen'ts in the Manufacture of Coke in Retort-Ovens, of which the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings,which make :0 part of this specification, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a retort coke -oven, showing the-same charged in the usual manner; Fig. 2, a similar section of the same, showing the cokingcompleted; Fig. 3,asimilarviewshow- :5 ing the oven charged according to myinven tion previous to the withdrawal of the bottom and the partition Fig. 4, asimilar view showing the charge coked, and Fig. 5 a similar view showing the pertitiop not extending to :o the bottom of the charge.

Many objections have been raised to the use of coke for metallurgical purposes made in retort or closed coke-ovens, the objections being based mainly on the presence of a greater or less amountof spongy porous friable coke. The pressure of this feature has been attributed to the insufficient coking of those portions of the charge in contact with the doors, orelse to the portion in the top of I the oven where the heat from the roof was insuflicient to properly coke. As a matter of fact neither of these-uses is responsible for the evil, except in a very minor degree, and I state below'the, true 031339 of the trouble,

and I have invented al new and effectual method of remedying the evil and nakepos- 'sible the production of coke that has a uniform hardness and cell structures, the two prime requisites of agood metallurgical coke,

49' and inaddition an almost entire freedom from spongy or soft portions.

I Heretof0re it has been the general practice to charge. the coalinto retort-ovens in a solid mass, 'as shownjin Fig. 1, either by larries or Q with schsrging-machine from the front. Durj ng .the' distillation and coking process the i beat is applied .On the outside of the brick avails and transferred through the same to the coal; .The heat being applied on both 5: sides will cake .the particles of coal next to both brick walls first, penetrating farther and farther during the operation. As the center part of the coal charge will be the longest in a state of semipaste, this part will form the passage-way for most of the gasesevolving from the coal, they naturally following the lines of least resistance. In actual practice the cake of coke when pushed from the oven will part. in the middle and each piece of coke will have on its inner side at 3 a spongy por- 6o ous fentherdike end from one to two inches long, which isivery friable and has not only little value, but in aheavily-bnrdened fnrnaca'is-e positive detriment.

When"coel,-which swells greatly inthe process of coking-is rammed into a. retorteven, so as to become solid between the walls thereof, or when acake ofsuch coal is rammed outside of the oven is of a size to entirely fill the same between its sides, the swelling of the coal exerts such a force as to distort the oven-walls.

,Ihepresent invention refers to the chsrg ing of the retorts with charging-machines, where the coal is rammed into as'olid block;

' but instead of having this rain med cake solid all through ldivi de the same and form an artificial space 3' for the passage of the gases instead of permitting the same to force a. passage, thereby obviating the spongy ends and materially changing the'textur'e of the inner endsbf'the coke and for the expansion of the coke if a coal swelling under heat is used.

Figs. 1', 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent'cross-sec- I tions of a retort-oven, which may be about sixteen inches wide, six feet and a half high, and thirty-two to forty feet long. It is usually filled by dropping crushed coal through holes in the roof or else by inserting the coal en masse or in briquet form at one end of the 0 oven. Fig. 1 represents an oven so charged. Fig. 2 shows the appearance of the stratifica tion or lamination after coking. It will be noted that 'a-well-defined fracture or fissure'3 extends from the bottom to the top of the mess, 9 5 and per the charge is pushed the mass parts, and one half falls to'the right and the other to the left. It will also be noted that the horizontel linesof cleavage all point upward and taper toward the center, indicating the line too of passage of the gases during their expulsion. The walls of this fracture 3 contain the greater portion of spongy coke. Fig. 3

shows a charge of coal similar to Fig. 1, with,

however, a diaphragm or partition 4 inserted, which partition, together with the bottom 5, is removed previous to firing, leaving an artificial channel or space vertically and longitndinallyin the coal. The bottom 5-isa base on which the coal is ram-med previous to its entrance in hriquet form into the oven. After the hriq'net has been inserted the bottom 5 is withdrawn in the usual manner-4m example, in the manner disclosed by the patent of Julius Qnaglio, No. 365,489. Fig. 4-shows the said charge after coking.- The lamination or cleavage is horizontal, and the inner surface of the masses of coke show the same cellular structure as the outer surfaces and are also practically free from the feathery fiuffy friable portions that were a former accompaniment.

I make no claim as. to the specific method of making the channel. In practiceitis made three-fourths of an inch wide at the bottom and oneand one-quarter inches at the top to facilitate the withdrawal of the partition or core. The dividing'partition or board can be withdrawn either endwise or, preferably, upward. In the latter case the partitions iwonld have to he withdrawh before the charges have been entered into the ovens, because the roofs of the ovens are too close to the tops of the partitions to permit the withdrawal of the latter by an upward movement. When the partitions are withdrawn upward, the charges must have channels before their transfer to the ovens. When the partitions are withdrawn endwise, they will preferably be. withdrawn before entering the charges into the ovens, t-honghthey might be withdrawn after their entrance into the ovens. In either tort-ovens, consisting in forming the charges outside the ovens, entering into the ovens the charges so that a portion or portions of the same shall be spaced apart,-and heating said charge in said ovens.

2. The process of mannfactnring'coke in retort-ovens, consisting informing the charges outside the ovens with a portion or portions of the samespaced apart, entering the charges into the ovens, and beating them.

3. The process of manufacturing coke in retort-ovens, consisting in forming outside the ovens the charges with a portion or portions of the same spaced apart, the spaced portion or portions extending from the top of the charges to a short distance from the bottom,

entering the charges into the ovens, and heating the same.

4.. As a step in the manufactnre of coke, the charging of retort coke-ovens with separate briquets spaced apart for the egress oi" the evolved gases. 1

Signed at Cleveland this 31st day of May, 1902.

JOHN F. WILCOX.

Witnesses:

WInL SELMSTER,

SAifnnL F. Scorr.

flit; 

